Petition drafting is necessary, detailed and time-consuming, and it is rarely what clients are really paying a bankruptcy attorney for. A Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant (VBA) takes that work off your desk without adding an employee to your payroll.
The core service: drafting the petition
You send the client file. The VBA takes the debtor's information and supporting documents and enters them accurately and completely into the petition and schedules. You get back a petition that is ready for your review.
Because bankruptcy law is federal, the forms are the same in every state. That is what makes the work practical to do remotely: a VBA can draft for firms anywhere after learning a few local rules and your own preferences, and your firm is not limited to whoever happens to live nearby.
What most VBAs do beyond drafting
Services vary, because NAVBA members are independent professionals who set their own scope and rates. These are the tasks you can usually expect to find:
- Due diligence research: PACER searches for prior filings, property and vehicle valuations, judgment searches and general debtor searches, with documentation attached.
- Electronic filing: many VBAs will file the petition through ECF for you.
- Emergency skeleton petitions: some are available evenings and weekends when a petition has to go out ahead of a foreclosure or garnishment.
- 341 meeting notices: telling the client when and where the meeting of creditors will be held.
- Post-petition follow-up: chasing the items needed after filing, including the personal financial management course certificate.
- Amendments, pleadings and motions: making the changes the trustee asks for at the 341 meeting, and preparing routine filings.
What a VBA does not do
A VBA does not give legal advice. Only a licensed attorney can advise a debtor, and doing so otherwise is the unauthorized practice of law. When a client asks whether to file Chapter 7 or Chapter 13, the question goes to you. The VBA drafts; you decide, review, approve and file, and you remain the attorney of record.
That division is also written into the NAVBA Code of Ethics, which commits members to supporting licensed attorneys and to referring prospective clients to attorneys rather than advising them.
Why firms choose this arrangement
Hiring staff brings recruiting, payroll, withholding, insurance, workspace, equipment and a fixed cost that does not shrink when filings slow down. With a VBA you pay per petition, so a quiet month costs nothing and a busy one does not require hiring ahead of the work.
Starting small
You do not have to commit to a volume. A good way to begin is to send one case and review the result, after agreeing on turnaround and price with the specialist first. To find someone, browse the directory (it is free to use) or request a VBA and we will point you to members who are accepting work. You can also read the full explainer on what a Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant is.
This article is general information about bankruptcy practice, not legal advice. Local rules, trustee preferences and state law vary, so confirm current requirements for your jurisdiction.
